It seems to be happening more and more often that all the new trendy places are located towards the north of Melbourne and that chefs are getting edgier and dare I say it, cooler with the vast arrays of ink across their bodies.

Tucked away on a side road off busy Brunswick Street in Fitzroy, sits the white washed walls of The Brix Cafe & Bistrot. Inside, the words bright, classy and funky comes into mind all at once.

Stepping through the front steps, on your right, a pig greets you. It is possibly the most eye catching decor item in the little cafe, the Moooi Pig table, which everyone has photographed except me.

I wanted to just steal it. Luckily for them, it is a little too large for my hand bag 🙂

Straight ahead, an amazing still life photograph styled by Keir Vaughn and Emma O’Mara in a garage and photographed by Gerard O’Connor.

Who are these amazing stylists you ask? They are the proud owners of this little establishment.

Headlining the kitchen where all things spectacular happen be it hot, cold or simply with tweezers is Joel Alderson with a work history in the Royal Mail Hotel and Attica firmly inked (hehehe) into his resume.

The Boy and I had been there the previous Sunday for a late brunch (see below) and were quite impressed with what we had, and as such we were really looking forward to our dinner the following Wednesday.

Thus, we found ourselves there on a sunny Wednesday evening together with Agnes and Alastair after being told they wouldn’t be able to get us in for a seating for dinner for 2 weekends.

We were on a mission and nothing was going to get in our way. We were there to sample their tasting menu (degustation) of 5 courses, priced at a very reasonable $80.

Dinner

Beautiful warm fluffy sourdough and rye bread was to start us off. Agnes and I decided to try a tiny piece of bread each (we are on Paleo diets) and didn’t regret it one bit.

We had a bottle of the 2011 Cos Clare Riesling ($52.00) to start us off for the evening.

After asking the obligatory questions regarding dietary requirements, the dinner began without a hitch.

On offer that night was an optional starter course of fresh oysters ($15 per head) which we decided to skip.

Sous vide the venison and it will have no chance but to taste succulent and tender. Aesthetically pleasing to the eye, the dish came adorned with various vegetables, peas in a pod and clove powder (made with the help of maltodextrin).

From where I stand (or sit on that night), the winning dish was the extremely tasty Slow Cooked Lamb, Sweetbread, Peas, Baby Cos Lettuce, Roast Onion.

The lamb brisket, with meat so soft and fat melting so invitingly, nearly had me turning my back on pork belly forever. It was a sinfully good dish marred only by the presence of peas (no offence, but this one’s personal. I dislike peas). However, with lamb this good, forgiveness and the ability to look beyond is required. The Boy on the other hand, finished all his peas.

Agnes was convinced that the powder decorating the plate this time had elements of hoi sin sauce in it and I was convinced that it was aniseed.

Turns out, it was a combination of anise, almond meal, kalamata olives and brown sugar.

By this stage, I was hankering for dessert. We decided to share out the optional cheese course ($15.00). A pretty gooey mish-mash of Washed Rind Cheese and Onion marmalade.

For our dessert course, we were served a concoction of Banana, Chocolate and Rosemary.

There seemed to be a running theme with the food that evening. Raw vegetables, roots, edible flowers, ash and assorted powders were a feature in nearly all the dishes.

The dishes we had that night speak volumes of the quality of food from their kitchen staff. As long as they stay, I’ll be back for more outrageous combinations for dinner.

As mentioned, the Boy and I visited The Brix on a Sunday for a rather late brunch.

From their Synesso coffee machine, we ordered two strong cafe lattes ($4.00 each)

The Boy had a delicious Pork Cassoulet of baked egg, persillade served with rye bread ($19.00)

As I was on my Paleo diet, the only thing that stood out for me was the Fine Herb Omelette ($20.00) which had duck confit, peas, cavolo nero and creme fraiche served with Sourdough.

It was very creamy and rich and made me want to curl right up in the corner after finishing the omelette (I skipped the bread).

As we weren’t quite ready to leave the establishment, we ordered a Seasonal Tart ($14.00) – Chocolate tart and Mandarin cream, another very rich dish for the day which I happily tucked into (quietly ignoring that it was a tart).

To cap a wonderful brunch, we washed it all down with a strong brew of French Breakfast Tea by Mariage Frères 🙂

For an establishment that looks unpretentious, it has a stellar cast of staff, chefs, and a menu that proclaims loud and clear that it is modern, exciting and definitely here to stay!

*Disclaimer: All food ratings & review are purely based on my own experiences and how I feel about the service, food and quality at the time of visit

I have to admit, the pictures look glorious. I will want to dine here just so I can capture such exquisitely presented food, LOL!! Think Ashley and I will be making a pilgrimage for the evening degustation pretty soon. After this post, I can’t wait!Bryan recently posted…Attica

I’m actually adopting a quasi-paleo eating plan as well, and have been doing so for most of the year. Mind you, I still indulge in wonderful pastas, breads and rice every so often but I can honestly say that limiting grains has done wonders for my well-being. How are you going with the paleo diet?Libby recently posted…Oh Me Ly, Oh My Love

Ooo quasi-paleo.. sounds like me.. I’m not awfully strict with it. It’s going well really. There are days when I absolutely miss bread (not rice though, funny that) and have one and then feel bloaty bloaty after it… I feel cleaner, healthier, but will indulge every now and again 🙂

The food looks really good. Somehow, I am not a fan of red meat that is sous vide. Although the result is usually very tender, I find this method lack the charred and slightly crispy texture of red meat that is cooked on a grill or pan.

I like how formal you are 🙂 Really? I love meat on sous vide but I also love charred meat. You know what? I just love meat! Thank goodness this diet doesn’t restrict protein, or else I’d be dead miserable!